Petition · past parliament

Make the culling of badgers a criminal offence.

Rejected 21 signatures

What the petition asks

Badgers can sometimes carry bovine TB and because of this, have been culled. Most TB is in cattle, but some infections come from badgers.
Badgers can sometimes carry bovine TB and because of this, have been culled. Most TB is in cattle, but some infections come from badgers. Research shows that the disease is not passed on by direct contact, but through contaminated pasture and dung; however badgers that are 1.5 meters away from an infected cow could be infected too. This means that you should not kill badgers for this as they are not the ones carrying the disease. Also, bovine tuberculosis is uncontrollable and the cull does not prevent it from spreading. If you are to catch bovine TB from a badger, you have to be very close when it coughs/sneezes.

Why it was rejected

There was already a petition about this issue. Duplicates are rejected so signatures collect in one place.

Timeline

9 Feb 2018 Petition opened for signatures
14 Feb 2018 Rejected by the Petitions Committee

Key facts

Signatures 21
Status Rejected
Rejected 14 Feb 2018

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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.